Senate panel: We’ll continue to support AMCON’s debt recovery efforts

By Abubakar Yunusa

Uba Sani, chairman, senate committee on banking, insurance and other financial institutions, says the national assembly will continue to support the debt recovery efforts of the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (AMCON).

Sani gave the assurance at a one-day retreat recently held at the Zuma Rock Resort in Niger state.

The retreat was themed: “Asset Recovery as a Tool for Enhanced Growth and Stability of the Banking Sector Sustaining the Impact and Bridging the Challenges of AMCON”.

He said supporting AMCON had become critical as the corporation remains a strategic national institution that plays a pivotal role in helping to stabilise the economy.

AMCON is saddled with the assignment of recovering nearly “5 trillion owed to the country by debtors who for years now hide under all manners of technicalities to tie the agency up in different courts to stall repayment”.

Sani, represented by Olubunmi Adetumbi, senator representing Ekiti North, commended the management of AMCON for remaining resolute.

While appealing to other agencies of the federal government and all stakeholders to support the recovery drive of AMCON, Sani also appreciated the contribution of the inter-agency committee set up by the federal government in 2019 to ensure that debtors are held accountable.

He said the work of the committee, chaired by Bolaji Owasanoye (SAN), who is also the chairman of the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), has brought many obligors to the negotiation table.

The committee is made up of heads and representatives of agencies, including the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC), Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), and the Nigerian Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU), among others.

In November 2021, President Muhammadu Buhari signed into law the Asset Management Corporation of Nigeria (Amendment) Act, amending the AMCON Act No 4, 2010.